Last Updated: May 20, 1999
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The copy
desk
Rather than having set jobs every day, copy editors
in Oklahoma City switch roles often, which distributes pressure more evenly
At a time when some newspapers are parceling out copy editors onto teams,
The Daily Oklahoman of Oklahoma City is playing its own game.
Working within a traditional rim-slot setup, which also includes pagination,
managers on the news copy desk at the Oklahoma City newspaper cross-train
most editors and schedule them to switch roles often.
Interviews with desk editors during a two-month study I did last summer
suggest this strategy is helping to reduce stress among editors who work
slot — a perennially high-volume, high-pressure job at many newspapers.
This approach may also help editing quality and lessen burnout in the long
run.
The five part-timers on the central copy desk focus on rim editing,
and three of the 14 full-time editors spend most of their time on single
jobs — rim, wires, and business design and pagination.
But the rest of the desk’s editors change roles several times during
their workweeks, sometimes switching within the same night. Most do both
editing and design. Jobs include:
-
Page One design and slot. Each Page One person designs and paginates the
page and slots the copy. Because makeover is heavy between the first (state)
and third (city) editions, on most nights a different editor does this
job for each of these editions.
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Inside layout. One editor designs and paginates many of the inside pages
each night. Different editors sometimes produce wire pages and a few feature
pages.
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Inside slot. The highest-volume slot job (handling most copy other than
Page One) is divided for most nights between an early and a late editor.
Business slot is sometimes handled separately.
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Rim and variations. Some rim editors also do other jobs. One rim editor
each night pulls photos from the AP Leafdesk. Another works rim after designing
inside wire pages some nights.
Oklahoman News Editor Ed Sargent, who supervises the copy desk and schedules
the editors, said editing and design roles have been split into all of
these pieces out of necessity.
The Page One jobs, for example, were divided between early and late
editors in 1996 when management decided to put greater emphasis on state
news in the first edition and city news in the final. Inside-wire layout
has since been split off on some days to provide training on design and
pagination.
The split between early and late slots came in early 1997 after several
people complained of stress. Sargent said slot has perennially posed a
problem of stress and pressure. "It’s the responsibility combined
with the time factors," he said.
Even with the many divisions of roles on the desk, it would be possible
to keep a few people in these jobs night after night. Instead, Sargent
cross-trains most of his editors and rotates them. He believes that, in
the long run, both the quality of editing and the quality of life on the
desk will benefit.
"It keeps them on their toes doing various jobs. It keeps them from
getting bogged down in one job, frustrated that way."
Some other editors agreed that switching roles from night to night helps
keep them mentally sharp.
One editor who often switches between page design and slot said: "You’re
fresh when you come to a particular job. Like last night I did inside (design),
and it was a long and torturous night because of the large paper. But then
again I turn around and do something thoroughly different tonight (slot),
so I don’t feel like I’m trudging back to the same old rut again."
Handing off the slot duty within the same night may also help editing
quality, at least in the long run — along with reducing stress. Another
slot editor said she thinks editing quality is better with separate early
and late slots "because you’re not as exhausted at the end of the evening.
By the time that you’re worn out with the first edition, somebody who’s
not quite so frayed is taking over and so they’re taking a fresher look
at the copy."
Sargent thinks editing quality on the desk stands to improve from having
a number of people work slot because the job exposes them to the different
approaches their colleagues take to editing. "Every editor has different
opinions, obviously, about what’s a big error and what’s a little error,"
he said.
More generally, the interviews showed working in a variety of roles
exposes editors to the constraints that their colleagues face when doing
particular jobs. For example, rim experience can help a layout editor avoid
assigning a headline that is too tight to write or calling for a story
trim that is too large for a rim editor to do in the available time.
Some editors expressed mixed feelings about frequent role-switching.
One noted that the quality of the desk’s work might improve if people
were able to specialize in their areas of strength — with the best designer
deployed in design and the best slot focusing on slot, for example.
Another editor put it this way: "I believe that the best headlines are
written by committee, but I believe that the best-slotted newspaper is
slotted by one person, day after day after day."
At the same time, however, this editor noted that splitting up the job
makes it easier on the people doing it. And Sargent said he worries that
the stress of the slot can contribute to repetitive strain injury. (One
slot editor has had surgery, and another is showing RSI symptoms.)
Given the human cost of living with daily deadlines and technology —
and the potential long-term benefit for building quality — The Oklahoman’s
approach seems worth a look at other newspapers.
Craig is assistant professor of journalism at the University of Oklahoma.
E-mail him at dcraig@ou.edu.
